Climb Real Estate, a boutique San Francisco brokerage focused on city-dwelling Millennials, has been acquired by NRT LLC, the nation’s largest residential brokerage, the companies announced Wednesday.NRT is the parent of Coldwell Banker, Sotheby’s International Realty and ZipRealty and a subsidiary of Realogy, a publicly traded real estate conglomerate.NRT has pursued the same approach with other regional firms it acquired including the Corcoran Group in New York City and Laura McCarthy Real Estate in St. Louis, said Bruce Zipf, NRT’s president and chief executive.Climb tries hard to appeal to Millennials by focusing on mobile technology and social media.“I believe what this represents is a more traditional type platform coming together with a more innovative, unique-type platform” and providing the financial capital to expand Climb in the Bay Area, Zipf said.Greg Macres, NRT’s executive vice president for the western region, said, We want our agents to be more mobile (and) stretch the boundaries of technology.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Nearly two tons of trinkets, statues and jewelry crafted from the tusks of at least 100 slaughtered elephants are heading for a rock crusher in New York City's Central Park to demonstrate the state's commitment to smashing the illegal ivory trade.[...] state environmental officials, who are partnering with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Tiffany & Co. for Thursday's "Ivory Crush," say no price justifies slaughtering elephants for their tusks.Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service instituted a near-total ban on the domestic commercial ivory trade and barred sales across state lines.Since August 2014, New York law has prohibited the sale, purchase, trade or distribution of anything made from elephant or mammoth ivory or rhinoceros horn, except in limited situations with state approval.The World Wildlife Fund says the illegal wildlife trade not only threatens animal populations, but also endangers national security by funding terrorist cells.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Critics are throwing shade at Gov. Andrew Cuomo's pricey plan to install high-tech, color-changing lights on New York City's bridges, questioning whether the investment is the best use of public money.A government watchdog group this month called for a state probe into what it says are conflicting explanations for how much the lights cost and where that money will come from.De Blasio, who has frequently sparred with his fellow Democrat, urged Cuomo to reallocate the money for emergency repairs on the subway system, which has been plagued by mounting delays, derailments and other problems caused by decades of neglect.Despite initial reports that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority would foot the bill, the state now says the money will come from economic development funds and proceeds from the state's Power Authority, which often works on big energy efficiency projects.